BONNEVILLE TO PICK UP CBS SEATTLE?

[kentuckymedia]

Think of it like this, it would be a relief to CBS to completely unload the Seattle market, and it would give Bonneville a very powerful position in the market

BONNEVILLE SEATTLE (If CBS divests their stations)

KIRO-AM Sports
KTTH-AM Talk
KPTK-AM Talk
KIRO-FM Talk
KMPS-FM Country
KZOK-FM Classic Rock
KJAQ-FM Classic Hits
KIRO-FM News/Talk

I know CBS said they want to divest only markets under 20, but by completely getting out of Seattle it will help their overall portfolio. Plus Bonneville is the only major market operator with 100% positive money in their reserves.

 

[radioprofessor]

This could work. Bonneville has LA stations and a Chicago station of value. CBS can expand holdings in top ten markets while Bonneville rounds out its Seattle Cluster. Would expect Bonneville to move JACK to Soft AC and simulcast KIRO on the AM dial using KPTK. This would fit with the goals and format parameter strengths of both CBS and Bonneville. I have it on good authority that many options are being looked at by CBS including further deals to move stations to Clear Channel.

 

[SeattleRadioPro]

Re: BONNEVILLE TO PICK UP CBS SEATTLE? - HUH?!?!?!?!

This thread wins the award for "most ludicrous thread ever on the R-I Seattle Board". 'nuff said.

 

[SeattleObserver]

Re: BONNEVILLE TO PICK UP CBS SEATTLE? - HUH?!?!?!?!

This thread wins the award for "most ludicrous thread ever on the R-I Seattle Board". 'nuff said.

I dunno, I can see the point. Bonneville likes to 'steer the spirit' of communities they do business in. Here in Seattle, they would have almost all the talk voices on the dial along with popular music formats that Bonneville feels "safe" in and already programs ("The Drive"/Chicago, "Arrow" SLC, "The Sound" LA on classic rock-hits side; "B" and "Wolf" country on the country side; news/talk stations in Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Washington DC).

They claim that's part of why they left San Francisco, no? (a lack of ability to 'make a difference, everyday' in the community)

 

[djdan]

This thread wins the award for "most ludicrous thread ever on the R-I Seattle Board". 'nuff said.

Not these days. Who would have believed a thread two weeks ago that said CBS would give KBKS to Clear Channel? This thread actually is more believable that what is really happening. I agree the dealing is not done. CBS has weakened its Seattle cluster. One wonders if the remainder of its stations will go to Bonneville for future swaps. I would bet that future deals with Clear Channel are more likely sending the remainder of the CBS properties to Clear Channel Seattle.

CC, Clear Channel, Citadel, Cumulus, Emmis have all been trying to sell properties without luck. Trading to improve positions in specific markets is the logical next step. Bonneville is just as likely a partner and have not been shy about saying they want to expand in Seattle.

 

[FMSteve]

Uh.....achem........I think we are forgetting about the ownership rules in a large market. If you have no TV station, and 20 or more separate AM and/or FM stations, then you are still limited to 6 radio stations in the market. If there are less voices, then you're limited to 5.

You can see for yourself on the FCC website that I have provided here:

http://www.fcc.gov/ownership/

 

[Bryant]

FMSteve-
Don't stop there. Seattle is a 45+ station market, in which one party can own up to 8 stations, no more than 5 of which can be in the same service. So a 5FM/3AM combo works in this market.

 

[Bongwater]

They might as well buy since CBS apparently can't afford anything anymore.

I believe 1090 once briefly fell into the hands of Bonneville first after the breakup of KING Radio in 1994.

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

I believe 1090 once briefly fell into the hands of Bonneville first after the breakup of KING Radio in 1994.

'twas KINF at that time!

I believe 1090 and 770 use same Vashon facility .... which from a content standpoint I find ironic. Always wondered what it would be like for one owner to have both a hard-core conservative and hard-core Liberal talk station and run them both with equal enthusiasm. Not sure CBS has any major pride in keeping it....even within CBS/Seattle the station was kind of the "automated stepchild". In a way it's a bit like what Salem was doing...get a complement of AM's and program each one a little bit differently; but all generally under the talk banner.

If I could lift a wand and make a few shuffles, it would be interesting to put 770 and 1090 under same ownership and assign programming leadership that CARED about both (not just 100% off the bird). Would take KVI, KPLZ, KOMO and brand them as local information sources....KOMO as-is, KPLZ as full-service/music-version of it (think of the "old KOMO" with updated music), and KVI as a "KOMO-2" ... place to put longer-form content that would get in the way of a 24/7 ongoing newswheel. MANY things come up on KOMO-TV that could make decent source-out for a "KOMO-2" kind of channel.

All that would focus liberal talk on one station that has a shot at success...conservative talk essentially on one station with a shot at success...and consolidates the info/news assets of a major local newsroom into multi-format distribution.

Seems to make more sense that continuing to follow the old model where everyone is fighting for each .1 share by running slightly different variations of the same-old, same-old while they compete for a diminishing audience. Downside, of course, is that any of those are probably too expesnsive to ever see daylight in today's reality.

 

[kentuckymedia]

Bonneville could easily own all eight, own the Seattle Market and dominate in revenue.

Even though they dont dominate in DC, they still come in first or second with revenue every time. They look for strategies where they are consistantly top three in market billers.

Chicago #3
Washington #2
Seattle #3 - - - - > could be #1
Phoenix #3
Saint Louis #2
Salt Lake #1
Cincinnati #2

Los Angeles is the problem child, which they already know that. Could this be an ultimate swap out station involving CBS, LincFin, Emmis and Bonneville?

 

[kentuckymedia]

Bonneville is also on the hunt in Baltimore. Notice that CBS dealt away the Adult Hits and kept the Sports/AC/Hot AC combo in the mix? Something tells me that they have someting in mind for that market.

Asa said before, could Bonneville be looking to get out of Phoenix? If they dump KTAR into CBS lap along with The Peak, and they pick up Saint Louis and maybe two other CBS clusters plus some cash?

Bonneville is the silent player in all of this...its a great company with lots of financials available.

 

[Bongwater]

I believe 1090 once briefly fell into the hands of Bonneville first after the breakup of KING Radio in 1994.

'twas KINF at that time!

I believe 1090 and 770 use same Vashon facility .... which from a content standpoint I find ironic. Always wondered what it would be like for one owner to have both a hard-core conservative and hard-core Liberal talk station and run them both with equal enthusiasm........

I'm sure the conservations in that facility are quite....ummm.... spirited.

 

[TakeItFromMe]

Bonneville is the only group that can buy all the CBS stations and it is a damn perfect fit with three am stations and 4 fm. They can even have one more FM Rumor out of Chicago is trade talks are in the works with Chicago, LA and St Louis in play. CBS is out of Seattle and adds strength in a top ten market. Bonneville adds strength in Seattle and one other market. Makes sense and cents 8) Glad we get Bonneville who hire local talent versus CBS that are cuttin local ;D

 

[TimmyWA]

Problem is that B'ville isn't horribly strong with Country. We saw this in SFO, with 95.7 The Bear. Who knows, if they buy KMPS and leave it alone, that should be ok. Of course TIFM is happy with B'ville taking KMPS over...

 

[Jay F]

Problem is that B'ville isn't horribly strong with Country. We saw this in SFO, with 95.7 The Bear. Who knows, if they buy KMPS and leave it alone, that should be ok. Of course TIFM is happy with B'ville taking KMPS over...

I would disagree about them not being strong with country. They have had success with WIL/St Louis which they have owned for several years and the more recently acquired WUBE/Cincinnati.

As for SF, it's a weak country market. Country won't thrive there no matter who owns it.

 

[djdan]

From a sales point of view Bonneville tends to do well with a number of formats around the country. They also have the ability to drive rate and most of their stations have a very strong power ratio. I would consider it a positive for KMPS, KZOK and JACK. Bonneville has experience and success in all of these formats. I would anticipate one frequency would probably change to Soft-AC which is one of their historically strong brands. I agree that it is likely Bonneville will pick up the CBS stations in a trade. CBS would not intentionally weaken a cluster if they didn't have plans to trade off the rest. The recent drastic cost cutting is further evidence.

 

[kentuckymedia]

Seattle is an attractive growth market with a high cash winning strategy that looks good to Bonneville. Positive cash flow at CBS, Positive cash flow at Bonneville. Merging the two together in Seattle would be a major win, and it can easily be done because they can own five FM signals in the city.

KMPS, KZOK would both most likely remain along with KIRO-FM, KIRO-AM and KTTH-AM as well as the AM Liberal Machine.

Jack is a possibility to flip to AC or they may keep it the same and let it ride out jockless.

I dont see Chicago being a major swap out city for them, its a market they like and it makes them a TON of mulah.

Bonneville likes Chicago, DC, Salt Lake and Seattle. Cincinnati still smells new, but its turned around quite well and is making them hand over fist in cash with WUBE being consistantly the 2nd biggest biller along with WKRQ being 4th.

Phoenix is doing okay but not gang busters and neither is LA. So if anyone is going to be a swap market I see it being those two.

 

[Bongwater]

Seattle is an attractive growth market with a high cash winning strategy that looks good to Bonneville. Positive cash flow at CBS, Positive cash flow at Bonneville. Merging the two together in Seattle would be a major win, and it can easily be done because they can own five FM signals in the city.

KMPS, KZOK would both most likely remain along with KIRO-FM, KIRO-AM and KTTH-AM as well as the AM Liberal Machine.

Jack is a possibility to flip to AC or they may keep it the same and let it ride out jockless.

I dont see Chicago being a major swap out city for them, its a market they like and it makes them a TON of mulah.

Bonneville likes Chicago, DC, Salt Lake and Seattle. Cincinnati still smells new, but its turned around quite well and is making them hand over fist in cash with WUBE being consistantly the 2nd biggest biller along with WKRQ being 4th.

Phoenix is doing okay but not gang busters and neither is LA. So if anyone is going to be a swap market I see it being those two.

Does Bonneville have ANY progressive talkers in it's stable?

I always seen Bonneville as generally a stuffy news/talk and Lite AC specialist. Very conservative, none of that crazy, bouncing-off-the-walls David Archuleta or Thom Hartmann insanity here. No thrash metal, no gangbanging rap, just sheer aural wallpaper.

If Bonneville were to ever pick up the remaining CBS Seattle stations, it's pretty accurate to say 96.5 would go straight to lite AC (there seems to be one in every Bonneville cluster), but Bonneville would also have a successful classic rocker and progressive talker - neither format big Bonneville specialties. And a HUGE country station.

I was under the impression they were wanting their TV station back. Is it still on the drawing boards?......

 

[TheOtherKevin]

Does Bonneville have ANY progressive talkers in it's stable?

I was going to say "DAVE ROSS" but I've found that, for whatever reason - perhaps age, skin color, musical tastes, educational pedigree, island of residence - he never counts when people itemize "progressive" talkers in the Puget Sound area. I recall David Goldstein used to famously shout that he was the only progressive talker on KIRO at a time when Dave Ross, Ron Reagan and Carl Jeffers were collectively on-air for 38 hours per week (including repeats) on the same frequency.

I might also say "LUKE BURBANK" or "RON UPSHAW" but, again, they don't seem to count because either their show doesn't deal with politics (i.e. Burbank), or they are a moron (i.e. Upshaw). Which is part of a troubling conundrum; that being, there are plenty of left-of-center talk show hosts in any market, the ones who stay employed just find something other than politics to talk about. This seems an untenable position to assert that more stations aren't employing left-of-center talk show hosts when the problem really is that the left-of-center talk show hosts are choosing not to talk about politics. As such, this complaint has always struck me more as a talent problem and less a management problem.

but Bonneville would also have a successful classic rocker and progressive talker - neither format big Bonneville specialties

Why would they need to specialize in progressive talk? All they need to know how to do is put a stamp on KPTKs electric bill and drop it in the mailbox once a month. Air America does the rest. In fact, they could probably just hire a high school student to GM the station as part of a co-op or internship of some type. It could be a DECA project.

 

[Zeb Norris]

Bonneville does very very well with Classic Rock on "The Drive" in Chicago. Like KZOK it's deeper than a standard Classic Rock, with excellent imaging making the depth palatable.